Duke  University  Libraries 

Speech  of  Hon. 
Conf  Pam  #618 


S  P  Elte  C  H 

HON.   JOSEPb   H.    ECHOLS. 


The  House  of  Repreaentativea,  on  January^9th,  1865,  having  un(Jer  consider- 
ation a  "Bill  to  impose  an  export  duty  on  cotton  and  tobacco  of  5  cts.  per  pound," 
the  Hon.  Humphrey  Marshall,  of  Kentucky,  moved  to  recommit  the  bill,  with 
instructions  that  the  Committee  report  a  bill  to  seize  all  the  cotton  and  tobacco 
of  the  Confederacy.  The  Hon.  Josrph  H.  Echols,  of  Georgia,  opposed  the  mo- 
tion, and  spoke  in  substance  as  follows : 
-  ■  -^ 

Mr.  Speaker  : — 

In  my  reply  on  yesterday  to  the  fervid  and  eloquent  speech  of 
the  honorable  gentleman  from  Kentucky,  (Mr.  Marshall)  I  would 
not  be  considered  as  having  objected  te  the  patriotic  and  earnest 
appeal  he  made  to  this  House  and  the  whole  country,  to  rally  to  our 
cause  and  never  give  up  the  struggle  »ntil  wcshall  have  secured 
national  iidependence.     Lmo^t  cordially  endorse  the  spirit  and 
some  of  the  sentiments  of  that  distrnguished  gentleman,  but  it  was 
the  line  of  policy  and  the  mode  of  accomplisbiag  our  success,  to 
which  my  strictures  were  directed.     Sir,  the  whdle  scope  and  tenor 
of  the  speech  were  in  favor  of  the  most  radical  aivd  stringent  mea- 
sures.    He  scouted  the  idea  of  hajuig  "feelinga '  of  delicacy  to- 
wards the  constitution,  aitd  a^sertei^p  were  in  danger  of  being  too 
tender  footed,  in  times  il'ai  demand  all  our  nion  and  redourcea.     I 
regretted  exceedingly  the  announcement  that  wq  could  at  any  time 
have  a  too  sacred  regard  for  the  constitution      I  ftar,  from  the  ar- 
guments he  advanced  and  otker  indications  in  this  Hpuse  as  well  from 
some  of  tke  measures  of  our  past  legislation,  we  will  soon  have  no 
constitution  at  all.     Why,  sir,  this  is  a  war  fo|jfche  constitution,  it 
is  a  constitutional  war.     It  is  not  a  war  of  the^Roses,"  a  contest 
to  settle  the  claims  of  a  spurious  or  doubtful  line  oi  fossilliforous 
royalty,  but  it  is  a  struggle  for  constitutional  rights.     One  of  the 
ablest  arguments   I    hav^   heard  duriutr  the   present  session,  on 
the  greatest  constitutional  cmestion  of  tho  day,  was  made  by  that 
distinguished  gentleman,  anclrit  added  additional  lustre  to  his  wide- 
spread national  reputation.     I  was,  therefore,  taken  by  surprise 
and  that  surprise  was  expressed  with  some  degree  of  earnestness, 

D  ►:'  9  '^  1  n 


when  I  heard  that  crentlcman  assert  "we  must  not  have  such  feeHnp;8 
of  delicacy  towards  the  constitution."  All  the  riehts  vrehold  dear, 
"free  ppeecb."  "a  free  pre«s,"  ''Jcial  bv  jury,"  freedom  from  un- 
reasonable seizures  and  to  wora^  God  as  we  please,  are  all  se- 
cured to  us  by  the  constitution. 

Mr.  Speaker,  the  constitution  Ufcs  the  prreat  cenripetal  force 
that  held  togrether  the  mafrnificent  constellation  of  the  States  of  the 
old  Union,  and  when  that  force  -v^^destroyed,  those  Sates,  like  so 
many  planet?  that  had  lo?t  their  power  of  attraction,  were  driven 
into  other  spheres,  and  seeking  the  orbits  of  their  original  sove- 
reignty, again  revolved  about  a  llew  and  common  centre.  When 
we  lose  our  regard  for  the  constitntion,  when  the  obligation  of  an 
oath  to  support  it  becomes  so  demoralized  as  to  allow  us  to  violate 
its  provisions  with  irattttutv,  we  are  not  far  removed  from  self- 
subjugation  and  politioBHJKcide.  W#  propose  to  carry  on  this 
war  under  the  ^anc^jon^  anoljy  virtue  of  its  authority.  I  have  ho 
sympathy  for  a  counter  revolution,  but,  in  the  language  of  a  distin- 
guished statesman.  "I  am  for  keeping  the  present  one  in  the  right 
track  ;"  and  that  is  the  great  highway  of  our  chartered  and  consti- 
tutional rights. 

The  constitution  is  the  ''Lex  Scripta" ^j  way  of  distinction. 
It  was  once  the  e(|uilibrium  of  the  States,  "ut  dow  it  is  known  as 
the  "Lost  Principle  ;"  and,  like  the  missing "Ploiade,"  can  no  longer 
be  seen  with  a  powerful  magnifier  any  where  in  the  vast  political 
heavens  of  the  North.  Let  us  not  follow  their  example,  but  in 
war  as  in  peace,  with  the  most  religious  scrupulosity,  adhere  to  its 
teachings  and  obey  its  behests.  If,  in  the  mighty  struggle  to  se- 
cure our  indepenflpnce,  wo  shall  be  driven  with  the  momentum  of 
an  avalanche  into  the  vortexpf  anarchy  and  ruin,  we  may  not  be 
able,  when  we  will,  to  return  to  constitutional  liberty  and  a  free 
government.  If,jn  the  ij^ood  providence  of  God,  we  are  not  to  suc- 
ceed, (which  I , cannot  believe,)  let  us  go  down  to  an  honorable 
grave,  with  the'^'onl  in  one  hand  and  the  cons/iYw^io/i  in  the  other. 

Again  the  bonoiablc  'gentleman,  with  great  vehemence,  urged  the 
propriety  of  seizins:  evcr/man  and  hurling  him  into  the  ranks. 
Sir,  is  this  to  be  the  policy  of  ilii^'.  "overnment  ?  Are  we  to  have 
no  exemptions  ^u^lust  we  leave  offf' children  without  instruction, 
rob  our  pnlpitdS^  the  ministry,  abolish  our  courts,  break  down  the 
press  and  turn'  society  loose  to  follow  the  dictates  of  its  own  dis- 
ordered nnsti  nets  ?  Why,  sir,  tiic  people  are  losing,  every  where 
throughout  the  ^nfedcracy,  their  respect  for  an  enlightened  pub- 
lic sentiment.  If  you  would  have  chastity  and  virtue  assume  the 
place  of  prudery^Bd  boldness,  the  elegance  and  polish  of  refined 
society  supplaniocr^  courseness -^ind  rowdyism,  then  conscribe 
all  your  teacho:  s  and  put  liayonets^gSto  the  hands  of  all, your  min- 
isters. Close  the  sauctiiiu  ies  of  Qi)|p7  seal  up  .the  sacred  oracles 
and  leave  the  community  to  the  defcoralizing  influences  of  specu- 
lation, fraud  and  robbery,  and  we  will  have  transformed  this^unny 


3 

land  into  a  eterile  "Sahara"'  of  barbarism  and  infidelity.  If,  to 
use  the  classic  languapre  of  the  honorable  member,  this  c:overnment 
shall  ^'seize  every  man  h/  the  nap  of  the  neck"  and  thrust  them  into 
the  ditches,  where  are  you  to  j^et  supplies  for  the  army  ?  The  aprri- 
culturalists  must  leave  their  plow-shares  or 'beat  them  into  swords, 
and  their  pruning  hooks  into  bayonets,  and  the  army  be  fed  on 
"beach  nuts,"  and  the  families  of  soldiers  upon  "the  roots  of  the 
ground."  Sir,  this  is  the  sophomoric  declamation  of  a  school  boy, 
and  not  in  keepins;  with  the  breadth  of  intellect  and  enlarged 
statesmanship  of  the  brave  and  gallant  Kentuckian. 

Is  this  the  way  to  talk  to  freemen,  to  make  the  war  popular  and 
win  back  the  affections  of  the  people  ?  Such  sentiments  will  make 
more  deserters  and  drive  oft"  moj.'e  patriots  from  your  government 
than  a  hundred  defeats,  or  the  fall  of  every  city  along  our  entire 
Atlantic  coast.  Our  soldiers,  who  are  now  enveloped  in  mud  and 
snow,  are  not  hired  mercenaries,  or  the  floating  scum  of  a  half-bar- 
barous mongrelism,  who  are  seeking  ©ur  subjugation  for  plunder 
and  spoils,  but  they  are  the  flower  and  pride  of  Southern  chivalry. 
They  are  a  citizin  soldiery,  many,  of  thorn  of  the  highest  order  of 
intellect  and  most  cultivated  taste — they  know  no  master  and  are 
not  ready  to  purchase  independence  by  making  slaves  of  freemen. 

Again  the  honorable  gentleman  proposes  by  his  amendment  to 
seize  or  impress  all  the  cotton  and  tobacco  in  the  country,  aad  put 
them  into  the  hands  of  the  government.  Sir,  you  remember  that  1 
was  among  the  first,  at  the  opening  of  the  present  session  of  Con- 
gress, to  advocate  the  propriety  of  making  cotton  a  basis  of  re- 
deeming and  appreciating  Confederate  Treasury  notes — but  I  have 
never  been  in  favor  of  impressing  either  of  these  commodities. 
The  entire  system  of  impressments  is  injudicious,  unwise  and  un- 
constitutional, unless  under  the  pressing  emergency  of  an  absolute 
military  necessity.  Our  impressment  laws  are  an  outrage  upon  a 
free  and  patriotic  people. 

Mr.  Speaker,  I  propose  reading  some  authority  on  this  subject 
that  may  have  some  influence,  at  least  upon  Virginians.  It  is  a  let- 
ter from  a  gentleman  and  soldier,  who,  according  to  the  opinion  of 
Lord  Brougham,  never  had^  peer  upon  tha  American  coHtinont. 
I  will  read  it :  |?' 

Valley  Forge,  January  otb,  1778. 

'  To  the  President  Congress : 

It  will  never  answer  to  procure  supplies  of  clothing  or  provi- 
sions by  coercive  measures.  The  small  seizures  of  the  former  a 
few  days  ago,  in  consequence  of  the  most  absolute  ani  pressing 
necessity,  when  that  or  to  dissolve  wag  the  alternative,  excited  tho 
greatest  alarm  and  uneasiness  even  amongst  our  best  and  warmest 
friends.    Such  proceedings  may  give  momentary  relief,  but  if  re- 


peated  will  prove  of  the  most  perilous  consequences.  Besides 
spreadins:  disaflfection,  jealousy  and  fear  among  the  people,  they 
never  fail,  even  the  most  veteran  troops,  under  the  most  rigid  dis- 
cipline, to  raise  in  the  soldiers  a  disposition  to  licentiousness,  to 
plunder  and  robbery,  difficult  afterwards  to  suppress,  and  which 
haa  proved  not  only  ruinous  to  the  inhabitants,  but  in  many  in- 
stances, to  the  armies  themselves. 

(Signed.)  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

Mr.  Speaker  :  If  the  authority  and  sacredness  of  the  name  of 
Washington  have  lost  their  charm,  if  such  words  of  wisdom  fail 
to  influence  our  legislation  on  this  suliject,  1  cannot  hope  that  my 
humble  views  shall  change  the  opinion  of  tlii:?  House.  Sir,  the 
weight  of  responsibility  tht^t  rests  upon  this  body  is  absolutely  pain- 
ful, and,  in  the  langua<!:e  of  tho  gentleman  from  Kentucky,  1  fear  we 
have  not  "arisen  to  tho  i^ieatncss  ol  tlio  occasion."  Whenever  this 
Congress  shall,  by  one  fell  swoop,  cleave  down  all  ihc  sacred  rights 
of  persons  and  property,  delivered  to  us  by  our  fathcM's,  we  are  like- 
ly to  raise  a  storm  of  indignation,  that  we  shall  not  be  able  to  sub- 
due. It  is  a  fundamental  proposition  that  underlies  all  our  repub- 
lican ins.itiitions,  that  the  will  of  the  people  should  be  potent  and 
fully  represented  in  all  our  legisluive  councils.  Another  proposi- 
tion, equally  axiomatic,  is  that  the  niaintainauce  of  our  cause  de- 
pends ujion  the  Jjoarty  co-operation  of  tho  people.  We  should, 
therefore,  so  shape  our  legislation  and  execute  our  laws,  as  to  pro- 
duce as  little  distrust  and  vexation  as  possible.  The  gentleman 
fiom  South  Caiolina,  (Mr.  S.j  well  said,  on  yesterday,  that  the  past 
legislation  of  Congress  hnd  a  tendency,  among  certain  classes,  to 
alienate  their  affections  and  excite  among  them  a  desire  for  recon- 
struction. I  fully  concur  in  this  opinion,  but.  Mr.  Speaker,  we  can 
never  rccunstrvct  this  Government. 

Whtn  all  the  mailed,  limbless  and  wounded  soldiers  of  this 
country  shall  Lave  slept  with  their  falheia.  the  thousand 
widows  of  this  land  shall  be  laid  by  their  immortal  heroes,  and  their 
ten  thousand  orphans  shall  have  forgotten  the  wrongs  done  their 
fathers  and  brothers,  and  the  refluent  waves  of  time  shall  have 
•gashed  out  the  memories  of  the  past  ;  when  the  name  of 
Vankee  shall  no  longer  be  a  synonym  of  rapine  and  plunder  ; 
when  tlie  blessings  of  peace  and  felicities  of  home  shall  ol)literate 
the  recolici'tion  of  burnt  cities,  outraged  beauty  and  the  wail  of  or- 
phanage, when  such  men  as  Butler,  Hunter  atid  McNeil  shall  have 
been  court  martialed  and  cashiered  by  an  incensed  Deity  and  ©rder- 
ed  to  report  to  tho  "■Father  of  lies, ^^  then  we  may  bear  tp  hear  tho 
woid  reconstruction,  but  not  until  then.  But,  Mr.  Speaker,  we  may 
precipitate  the  South  into  another  revolution.  Before  the  "banner 
of  the  cro.'^s"  phall  wave  triumphantly  over  thecapitol  of  a  brave  and 
free  people,  wo  may  suffer  long  and  nrjch  from  military  blunders 
and  unwise  and  radical 'iegislation.     Without  designing  to  arraign 


the  wisdom  of  our  predecessors,  may  I  be  permitted  to  say,  that 
the  euspensioa  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  the  impressment  of 
private  property,  without  paying:  just  compensation,  the  harsh  and 
unfeeling  method  of  conscription,  the  tax  upon  the  currency,  and 
the  abuses  of  the  tithing  system,  have  alarmed  the  fears  and  aroused 
the  apprehensions  of  a  patriotic  and  confiding  people.  Because  I 
desire  to  "  temper  the  wind  to  the  shorn  lamb,"  and  make  these 
harsh  measures  of  legislation  as  agreeable  as  possible,  shall  I  be 
considered  as  wanting  in  devotion  to  our  cause  ?  Can  we  not 
honestly  diflfer  as  to  the  best  mode  of  conducting  this  revolution? 
\yhy,  sir,  he  is  a  traitor  to  his  own  understandirg  and  disloyal  to 
his  own  sense  of  ri^ht,  and  unworthy  of  the  confidence  of  a  free 
people,  who  shall  sit  here  in  this  House  and  smother  the  convictions 
of  his  own  intelligence.  I  will  not  fill  my  place  here,  if  I  must,  with 
folded  arms,  breathless  silence  and  supplicating  subserviency,  not 
be  allowed  to  differ  with  the  majority,  without  having  my  patriotism 
questioned. 

Mr.  Speaker,  we  are  in  no  danger  of  subjugation,  if  this  Con- 
gress will  come  up  to  the  full  measure  of  its  duty.  I  would  propose 
another  line  of  policy,  lay  down  a  new  track ;  harmonize  the  two 
leading  officers  of  your  govermieut;  impose  the  lightest  burdens 
possible  upon  the  people,  consistent  with  the  wants  of  the  country; 
abolish  your  impressment  laws  ;  pay  and  feed  your  troops;  vitalize 
and  encourage  the  people  ;  popularize  the  war ;  restore  public  con- 
fidence and  hold  to  the  most  rigid  accoxmtahility  every  officer  of 
the  government,  civil  and  military;  appropriate  no  more  money 
than  is  absolutely  required  to  carry  on  the  war;  th-^u  we  will  in- 
fuse into  the  army  and  people  a  heroic  invincibility  that  will  plant 
its  standard  upon  the  summit  of  independence  and  purchase  free- 
dom by  the  "  last  analysis  of  liberty,  the  blood  of  the    brave.'' 

Why  are  our  troops  unpaid  ?  Congress,  at  its  last  session,  ap- 
propriated $74,000,000  for  this  specific  object  and  $100,000,000  for 
their  sopport,  and  yet  sir,  there  are  many  of  them  without  clothes 
and  have  not  received  a  Confederate  dollar  in  eight  months.  Who 
has  this  money?  Where  is  it?  I  call  upon  the  committee  that 
supervises  the  estimates  and  looks  after  our  finances,  never  to  stop 
their  investigations  until  they  can  tell  an  oppressed  and  burdened 
constituency,  who  it  is  that  is  squandering  or  stealing  the  public 
moneys.  These  appropriations  do  not  include  the  tax  in  kind,  and 
by  this  system  alone  we  furnish  the  government  supplies  amply  suffi- 
cient for  an  army  of  two  hundred  thousand  men  for  twelve  months. 
With  all  these  apparent  indications  of  official  negligence,  we  are 
still  called  upon  by  the  departments  to  appropriate,  for  the  year 
1865,  over  $800,000,000. 

I  now  recur,  Mr.  Speaker,  to  the  Committee's  bill  and  the  pend- 
ing amendment.  1  can  see  no  good  reason  for  impressing  cotton 
when  tte  government  can  neither  export  or  sell  it.  Every  man  in 
this  House  knows  that  the  government  cotton  in  many  places  ia  ex- 


6' 

posed  fo  the  weatlioi',  without  shelter  or  haj^ginff,  and  rotting  every 
hour.  Then  why  impress  tnoro  to  waste  if  But  if  it  should  ap- 
pear that  the  Government  can  employ  it  in  sustaining  its  finances 
and  uphrldinfr  its  credit,  let  us  go  into  the  market  as  lieretojore, 
and  purchase  it,  giving  just  compensation.  We  might,  by  paying 
for  it  in  specie,  throw  into  «irculation  a  large  amount  of  the  pre- 
cious metals,  and  thereby  give  substantial  assurances  to  our  people 
that  we  intended  to  place  oar  currency  upon  a  metallic  basis,  and 
reorganize  our  finances  upon  the  principles  of  an  intelligent  politi- 
cal economy. 

1  am  still  more  opposed  to  the  Committee's  bill  to  tax  cotton  and 
tobacco  5  cts.  per  pound,  ad  infinitum.  Why,  sir,  5  cts.  per  pound 
is  50  per  cenf.  of  the  market  value  upr  n  a  specie  basis.  Suppose  the 
producer  had  to  pay  the  tax,  this  would  stop  its  production  entire- 
ly. Every  one  who  is  at  all  conversant  with  the  laws  of  trade  and 
principles  of  commerce,  knows  it  often  occurs,  when  an  export  duty 
is  laid  upon  a  specific  article,  under  the  laws  of  supply  and  demand, 
that  the  tax  falls  on  the  producer.  I  cannot,  therefore,  support  a 
measure  to  lay  a  tax  of  5  cts.  a  pound  on  cotton  and  tobacco,  which 
is  to  be  continued  indefinitely,  and  may  by  possibility  be  an  annual 
incubus  on  the  production  of  these  commodities.  The  whole  ob- 
ject, as  I  understand  the  Committee,  of  introducing  this  bill,  is  to 
appreciate  the  600  million  non-taxable  bonds.  We  certainly  ought 
not  to  lay  an  annual  lax  on  cotton  and  tobacco  which  may  lessen 
their  production  and  array  in  perpetual  antagonism,  bondholders 
and  agriculturists. 

Mr.  Speaker,  we  must  abandon  all  radical  and  revolutionary  leg- 
islation, and  lay  as  fewrestrictions  upon  trade  as  possible  and  leave 
it  to  the  operation  of  its  own  unchangable  laws.  For  these  con- 
siderations I  shall  oppose  the  motion  to  recommit  the  bill  with  the 
amendment  and  instructions. 


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